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This book, a completely new and different version from the old
'Serber Says' published forty years ago, is intended for graduate
students in the field of nuclear physics. Written with a
pedagogical aim it emphasizes topics of basic interest not only in
nuclear physics, but also other branches of physics such as atomic
physics, solid state physics and nuclear engineering.
This book, a completely new and different version from the old
'Serber Says' published forty years ago, is intended for graduate
students in the field of nuclear physics. Written with a
pedagogical aim it emphasizes topics of basic interest not only in
nuclear physics, but also other branches of physics such as atomic
physics, solid state physics and nuclear engineering.
This work features the classified lectures that galvanized the
Manhattan Project scientists - with annotations for the
nonspecialist reader and an introduction by a Pulitzer
Prize-winning historian. In March 1943 a group of young scientists,
sequestered on a mesa near Santa Fe, attended a crash course in the
new atomic physics. The lecturer was Robert Serber, J. Robert
Oppenheimer's protege, and they learned that their job was to
invent the world's first atomic bomb. Serber's lecture notes,
nicknamed the "Los Alamos Primer", were mimeographed and passed
from hand to hand, remaining classified for many years. They are
published here for the first time, and now contemporary readers can
see just how much was known and how terrifyingly much was unknown
when the Manhattan Project began. Could this 'gadget', based on the
newly discovered principles of nuclear fission, really be designed
and built? Could it be small enough and light enough for an
airplane to carry? If it could be built, could it be controlled?
Working with Richard Rhodes, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian of
the development of the atomic bomb, Professor Serber has annotated
original lecture notes with explanations of the physics terms for
the nonspecialist. His preface, an informal memoir, vividly conveys
the mingled excitement, uncertainty, and intensity felt by the
Manhattan Project scientists. Rhodes' introduction provides a brief
history of the development of atomic physics up to the day that
Serber stood before his blackboard at Los Alamos. In this edition,
"The Los Alamos Primer" finally emerges from the archives to give a
new understanding of the very beginning of nuclear weapons. No
seminar anywhere has had greater historical consequences.
More than seventy years ago, American forces exploded the first
atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki,
causing great physical and human destruction. The young scientists
at Los Alamos who developed the bombs, which were nicknamed Little
Boy and Fat Man, were introduced to the basic principles and goals
of the project in March 1943, at a crash course in new weapons
technology. The lecturer was physicist Robert Serber, J. Robert
Oppenheimer's protege, and the scientists learned that their job
was to design and build the world's first atomic bombs. Notes on
Serber's lectures were gathered into a mimeographed document titled
TheLos Alamos Primer, which was supplied to all incoming scientific
staff. The Primer remained classified for decades after the war.
Published for the first time in 1992, the Primer offers
contemporary readers a better understanding of the origins of
nuclear weapons. Serber's preface vividly conveys the mingled
excitement, uncertainty, and intensity felt by the Manhattan
Project scientists. This edition includes an updated introduction
by Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Richard Rhodes. A seminal
publication on a turning point in human history, The Los Alamos
Primer reveals just how much was known and how terrifyingly much
was unknown midway through the Manhattan Project. No other seminar
anywhere has had greater historical consequences.
This work is the memoir of one of the key scientists involved in
the atomic bomb and the chief research assistant and intimate
friend of J. Robert Oppenheimer. A prominent member of the
Manhattan Project, Robert Serber was one of a team of scientists
who assembled the bombs on Tinian Island for transport to Hiroshima
and Nagasaki. He was also one of the first Americans to walk among
the Japanese ruins after the catastrophe. Written with science
historian Robert P. Crease, this self-portrait is the story of
Serber's life before, during and after World War II. It brings into
focus the leading figures and events during this period in American
science. Serber tells of his wartime experiences at Tinian Island
and in Japan, in letters to his wife Charlotte, herself a key
player at Los Alamos and the only female group leader there. These
letters depict what Serber saw, such as the rows of iron office
safes protruding from the rubble of Hiroshima, and the grazing
horse whose hair had been scorched on one side by the fireball but
was untouched on the other. Serber is also eloquent about the
troubles he faced as a result of his refusal to take part in public
debate about the morality of his wartime work; how his opposition
to rapidly developing the hydrogen bomb earned him the enmity of
Edward Teller and others; and how he was investigated and his
security clearance challenged, several years before Oppenheimer's.
Serber also recounts stories involving Oppenheimer, Murray
Gell-Mann, Ernest O. Lawrence and Edward Teller.
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